It's the End of the World, Didn't You Get the Memo?
by kjwinchester
Summary: Malachy and Katherine McKinney are settled in a church two miles from where Rick's group are travelling, only for Carl Grimes to stumble into the woods and be crowded with walkers forcing the McKinney siblings to take action and then disappearing. [Daryl Dixon/OC]
1. Summary

Doctor Katherine McKinney was never one for superstitions, and never was her brother Malachy, but they never knew that their uncle was preparing for the end, keeping a bunker of survival gear beneath the house. It mattered for a number of months after the outbreak, when the bunker was compromised and their uncle's death, Katherine had to go on a search to find her brother's unit in Fort Benning.

It's day 297, two months after Malachy and Katherine lost their group to walkers, they are settled in a church two miles from where Rick's group are travelling, only for Carl Grimes to stumble into the woods and be crowded with walkers, forcing the McKinney siblings to take action and then disappearing without a thought.

Rick and Daryl take action to find them, wanting to express their thanks, and question if they could work together to find a new haven.


	2. Hey There Sheriff

Finding a church made of new, modern brick and the size of a two bedroom house in an enclosed forest was an understatement to how lucky Malachy and Katherine McKinney had gotten over the past two months. They had a group of eight, not including them, and they were all killed in an overcrowd that surrounding the church because of the smell that came from a few foxes and wild dogs that were trapped and died inside. The Sargent and the military Doctor had taken them all out with their twelve years and twenty years of experience before holding the church with all of the bags, clothes and food that belonged to the ranges of age that was in their group.

The church was two miles in the centre of the forest, right away from open road and they had created a steep moat around it, blocking the doors, which were filled up with gasoline, for when the time came. They got in and out by a tunnel that was made a few years before, it lead up to a creek, a non-polluted river and a clear road where they could get to the closest town, which wasn't needed, they had enough food and water to last until the next winter.

"Day two hundred and ninety seven sis, God bless uncle Dermot," Malachy's thick Irish accent entered up from a small shaft, into what was the priest's office with their fresh, dried clothing. He was wearing his usual military get up, his badges firmly attached to the lapels of his jacket, with his numerous guns kept underneath. It was hardly ever clean; they tried not to go out so many times because they didn't want to bring in the walkers again. They were never clean either, but they boiled water to attempt to get a hot bath in the metal tins they found in the wine cellar in the tunnel. For an apocalypse, they did look good, Katherine couldn't go two days without having her beloved lipstick, a pinkish shade of red and her eyeliner. She would raid three stores to make sure she had stocked up.

"For the gun supply or for me?" Came his sister's earthly voice, popping out from behind the door, her deep toffee hair falling off her shoulder with her half-moon glasses perched on her nose, probably getting stuck into the small library's benefits. Dermot, a devoted and the last man associated to their family and kept himself and Katherine safe by his secret bunker underneath their home in Dublin, everyone thought that Dermot McKinney was a complete nutcase for thinking that the end was coming so soon, but if he hadn't, Katherine would have never gotten her brother back.

"Both, baby girl," Malachy's grin widened, tossing her the bag of laundry in her direction, and she caught it perfectly. "So I was thinking, beef? There's a few cows in the west, no walkers have gotten to them yet, and they don't look sick,"

"You'll be the one dragging it back and skinning it outside in the dark," Katherine chuckled, her redheaded brother following her into the next room where the benches had been broken up, made together for beds or firewood. Her pale green eyes flickered over at the statue of JC, and up at the line of five, small bells that had been set up on a wooden plate, each one attached to strong wire that alerted them if someone, or a walker had breached into the mile radius around the church, parting off some of the creek and their cars.

"Anything on bell radar?" Malachy questioned with a grin, bright blue eyes glinting, setting down the guns that he had one him, apart from his trusted handgun he had first received in the army and into a drawer where piles of others were, thanks to the rest of their group.

"Bit of a chime early, might have just been an animal," She told him, crossing her arms over the black and red flowered tank top that fitted tight around her petite body, heavy chest and covered her numerous Latin tattoos around the bottom of her shoulder blades, but the ugly scar that wrapped all the way around her right arm was visible. "Get me my cigarettes?"

"Stole a few, the Impala is running low on gas," He chucked her three packets of Marlboro Red and her keys to her their father's car, left to Katherine when he died.

"You didn't fill it?" Katherine gasped at her baby being mistreated by her bother as she stuck the pockets in her shredded jeans.

"Didn't think we were going anywhere for a while," Malachy shrugged carelessly and she rolled her eyes, only for the west bell to chime again. "There's something out there," Malachy narrowed his eyes with the dramatic voice, grabbing his guns and loading up again, and Katherine grabbed her worn out leather jacket, material cut around the sleeves. She shrugged it on and putting the handguns in her thigh holster, tight around her shredded denim jeans and put the hunting knife in the side of her low heel ankle boot.

"Don't take too much, if it's a crowd we get back in the tunnel, and light this bitch up," Katherine warned him, grabbing her sniper, clutching it in her fingerless gloves and they headed back into the room with the shaft, making sure to shut the hatch behind them as they headed down.

"I don't want those sons of bitches eating my dinner before I get the chance to cook it," Malachy muttered in a gruff voice, the tunnel lit up with candles to show them the way as they ran.

"Come on," She nudged him in the arm and they eventually made it to the edge of the tunnel, climbing the wooden ladder that lead into a small cemetery, and they made their way through the blue spray painted trees they stated that it a safe zone.

"Hold up," Malachy put his hand up, and they made themselves thin against the trees, the Sargent lifting up his sniper and looking through the zoomed scope, noticing a small boy walking through the area aimlessly. The boy wasn't close to being a walker, wearing a dirtied Sheriff's hat and dark clothes that disguised him with the forest, but Malachy could easily spot him. He was also holding a rather large gun with a silencer tightly wound tight into it.

"A kid?" Katherine whispered, looking around and raising an eyebrow, adjusting the backpack that contained all of her medical supplies. 'Keep calm and kill zombies' how ironic.

"He's armed and he's not alone," She assumed that her older brother was talking about maybe he was with a group, but she found out that he really meant the group of walkers that began to surround the boy.

"Plan of attack?" Malachy could only smirk at her, the scruff of his long stubble bristling against his lips.

"Gotcha," She laughed, the two running in with their guns, silences firmly on and blocking out the sounds as they began taking down the walkers. Katherine made her way to the boy, grabbing the gun from him and placing it down the back of her pants. "Sorry, but this isn't your department Sheriff," She smiled cheekily, taking the knife from her boot and driving it into a walker's skull behind her.  
Malachy took down several walkers at once with sharp shooting skills, and Katherine had to attempt to keep an eye on the long haired boy as she also drove the heads off with her sharp knife. Her sniper was now tightly strapped to her back and her gun accompanied the boy's in her pants.

By the time they were finished, brain matter covered their cleaned clothes, Malachy cursing under his breath knowing that he'd have to polish his badges once again, and they looked at the kid with narrowed eyes, the three standing amongst eight bodies of walkers.

"You've got some nerve walkin' through here on your own kid," Malachy's anger made his accent thicker, harder to understand to the boy's ears and he raised his eyebrows in confusion at the two.

"You're lucky we knew you were here or else you would have been attracting a lot more than if you were alive," Katherine told him in a threatening voice, her Irish not as thick as her brother's thanks to the time spent in America.

"I-I'm sorry-"

"Where's your group? You do have a group don't you?" Malachy questioned and the boy nodded hesitantly. "My name is Sargent Malachy McKinney, this is my sister Doctor Katherine McKinney, we'll take you to your group, explain what happened and then we'll leave you, don't you ever think about walking through here again if you know what's good for you,"

"Mal, don't scare the kid," Katherine whispered, glaring at the thirty year old and the boy rolled his eyes.

"I'm not a kid! My name is Carl,"

"Alright _Carl_, let's go," Malachy literally grabbed him by the scruff his jacket collar and pulled him in direction of the road.

"Are those your badges?" Carl questioned, staring at the badges from the angle he was at. "Were you in the army?"

"We were-"

"You don't know this boy and you're telling him about us? We keep to ourselves, only thing they need to know is our name," Malachy spat, Katherine threatening to cuff him over the head. "We're close," He pointed up to a purple spray painted X on a tree, acknowledging that they were now in a danger zone.

"It's a little up the road, please don't tell my mom-"

"Your mother will be highly pissed off already knowing that you went walking at this time of day," The younger sister informed him, looking at her watch to see it was coming on to five o' clock, if Malachy wanted a bit of beef for dinner, he wasn't getting it now. "We won't get back until late, we'll have to be careful of the trees, maybe sit up in the Overlook until first light," She explained to her brother and he grumbled underneath his breath.

"I'm really sorry," Carl apologized sincerely just as they found a bluish-green car up the way with a group around it, Carl called for his mom and a pregnant woman turned around at them, deer in the headlights when she saw Katherine and Malachy with an amount of weapons. "It's alright, they saved me," He told them just as they were about to raise their weapons, Katherine somehow recognised the tall, dark muscled man and a younger Korean guy, but she wasn't sure, it had been seven months since she started travelling.

"Did you?" The pregnant woman almost hugged Carl to death, and the rest of their group looked at the two Irish folk with odd looks. Mixed ages were amongst the group, reminding Katherine of their people, two girls merely twenty, the same with a Korean man, there were others but Malachy didn't have the time nor care. "I told you to stay in the car!" She scowled at Carl angrily.

"Yeah, he was in our territory, about eight walkers around him. You're lucky we were close, and you didn't spoil our dinner," Malachy told them and the woman patted her son on the back, struggling to get up because of her belly and approached them.

"Thank you so much, what can we do to repay you?"

"Don't go further than the purple paint; you'll be saving your ammo. Let's go," Katherine squeezed her brother's shoulder and they turned around without another word, heading back inside the forest.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Aunt Pol's beef stew! Eh, what'da tell you?" Malachy grinned away, showing off meat stricken teeth as they sat in the main room of the church on dusted old couches that they had found in an antique shop a few weeks back, trying to make the place their own. Night had fallen down over Georgia; a few candles had been lit around the Jesus Christ statue, not enough to attract walkers through the windows but just enough to light up the room.

"It's hardly Aunt Pol who made it," Katherine smiled timidly, taking a bite from the freshly cooked cow, but it was a shame that they couldn't keep the whole thing.

"She gave _me_ the recipe," He snatched a note from the table where their cooking instruments were, cupboards of food and bottles of water, and dangled it in his sisters face, and she slapped his hand away with a laugh. It was their aunt Pol's recipe that was scribbled on the paper; she would make it every Friday back in Dublin before Malachy left for the army when he was seventeen. She died when Katherine had begun to practice as a nurse, she looked after her the extra two years that the chemo gave her.

"I got the car and you've got a shitty SUV," Katherine argued back childishly, letting Malachy laugh quietly and she winced, holding her stomach and her brother looked at her, worried, placing the bowl on the fixed wooden floor and moved over to her. "I'm fine-"

"It's got to still hurt," He lifted up her favourite vest, pushing her jacket out the way to see the tightly wound bandage, blood had already seeped through. "My terrible stitching," Malachy looked up with a crumbled smile, guilt washing over him for what he had to do.

"I would have died if you didn't," Katherine assured him, as if reading his mind and looking down at the bandage that was stuck across the bottom of her flat stomach, along with a few other bristle scars. "I'll need to change it, stick the bowl on a low heat, I'll be right back," Katherine lifted herself from the seat, pushing her matted, damp bangs out the way of her leaf and statue coloured eyes before making her way to the office, grabbing her medic bag, full of absolutely everything. It took her months to find her brother, and she stole as much medicine and supplies as she could. She shut the door behind her, hearing her brother resting against the other side as she grabbed the partially broken mirror and rested against the desk and wall, lifting her shirt again and peeling off the gauze with a painful grunt.

"It should be healed by now, it's only been two weeks since it happened Kathy," Malachy told her as she looked at the thick line underneath her stomach, and the three bullet holes that sat below and just above it. It looked like a child had stitched it together with wool, but Katherine had no choice but to guide him through the whole procedure by directions on a piece of paper while under.

"You took my womb out Mal, not to mention I was shot three times. Good thing we're the same blood type," Katherine informed, taking a case of needle and stitching thread, taking the old ones out and then stitching the new ones in, gritting her teeth, grinding together as the pain overwhelmed her.

"AB-, rarest blood type in the Old Country," He informed his young sister with a grin, even though she couldn't see it; she laughed at how proud he sounded. "You done in there?" Malachy questioned as she shoved a few antibiotics down her throat and made sure her bandage was on firmly. Katherine couldn't help but let her mind wonder to the group that had encountered, and if they'd be alright.

"We should have offered Carl's group shelter, they had a pregnant woman," Katherine suggested after a few minutes of silence, stepping out of the office with the old dressing and tossing them in the bin.

"The reason we are constantly changing that bandage is because we offered a group shelter Katherine-March," Malachy exclaimed quietly, his dark red eyebrows furrowing together when he used her full name. "You almost died, and the wound isn't healing quickly because you disobey my orders when it comes to resting,"

"I can't lie down and let you do everything Mal, I was good today, it'll scar over in a few days," Katherine informed him, taking out a cigarette and lighting it from one of the candles before grabbing her dinner and blowing out the dish full of candles that sat under a tripod.

"You can't trust so easily Katherine," Malachy scowled, watching as she blew smoke from her nose as she sighed, sitting down in an Indian position back on the couch and began to eat. "I'll go on watch, do me a favour and get an early night," He told her, looking down at his grandfather's watch to see that it was getting around to eight o'clock now. Malachy walked away from her, climbing the ladder beside the statue and up on a metal catwalk where the top windows are, his sniper clutched in his hand tightly.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

It was early morning when the siblings had begun their routine, working out and sparring before they even thought about breakfast. They made sure that each of them was ready for the day, bags packed and only anything that they really needed was lying on the table in case they had to break for it.

Malachy hung off the catwalk, doing chin ups with his wife beater loosely tucked in, dog tags hanging from his neck as he sweated out. Katherine on the other hand was skipping with a robe, something that didn't pressurize too much on her stomach with her hair tied up and her leather jacket and knife waited on the chair beside her.

They made eggs for breakfast, praying, and after that they did a spot of cleaning up around the church, making sure that the blood that they dragged in by their boots wasn't staining the floorboards.

They had really done a good job with the place, especially with only three rooms and a bathroom, the bathroom being a toilet, sink, cabinet and a shower that had been made out of a chemistry experiment, giving them hot water from a garden hose and sprinkler top. It was a good job they had more than enough water.

The main room was their living room of sorts, including a book shelf with many Irish books she had brought with her, including cooking recipes and their kitchen and food storage was included. Malachy had even made a table to go in between the couches so they didn't have to eat and drink with it in their lap. Two large cleavers were strapped underneath.

The next room was where the benches had sat, were changed into several beds, even though there was just two of them, and they were supplied with mattresses and blankets made from camping gear and the drapes from the windows. The beds were big enough for the average person, but if it came to it, they'd only be able to take the bedding.

"Do we need anything else from the cars?" Malachy dropped from the catwalk, his boots landing with a firm thud.

"Not that I know of," Katherine stopped skipping, breathlessly grabbing her cigarette packet.  
"You know you won't be able to run very much with your lungs rotting," Malachy stated with a smirk, drying the sweat off with a towel before grabbing an over shirt.

"It makes me look cool, I need to look good in an apocalypse," She replied dramatically, and one of the bells chimed raucously, meaning more than one thing had stepped over it. "Where is it?"

"Overlook," Malachy told her swiftly, watching as it chimed again. The Overlook was a tree house they found a few minutes from the church by walk, it was high enough to the point where they could hide inside, take out walkers from above. "You ain't going," He told her as he rushed over to the drawer by the stove and grabbed his sniper lying on the counter, and Katherine looked at him in outrage.

"What?"

"You heard me, after last night, I want those pills kicking in a little more," Malachy told her, heading from the office and Katherine stopped him, grabbing his arm.

"We've only got each other Malachy, McKinneys stick together," Katherine told him, her eyes pleading, not wanting to lose her brother again and she took the cigarette out, the end stained with red. He hesitantly nodded, so she grabbed her jacket and gun and they made their way out yet again into the woods. "If it was a herd, I wouldn't have been able to save your sorry ass," She told him with a stern voice once they reached the Overlook in less time than whatever was walking by, and they went straight up into the remodelled and disguised tree house, Malachy setting up his sniper and Katherine setting up her own, looking through the accurate scope trying to see the walkers.

"Three o'clock," Malachy whispered, looking through the scope with an eagle eye to see two men strolling through the forest, one man with combed back brown hair, and a thick beard beginning to grow, he was holding a revolver. The other was a little shorter than the other, a crossbow at the ready and he looked like he had been rolling around in the mud. Katherine recognised the one with the crossbow; he was sitting on the motorcycle the previous day with the group that came across.

"The kid's group?" Malachy muttered, and Katherine let out a whistling pigeon call, catching the attention of the men and they looked around to see where it came from. "You two down there, are you with Carl?" He called over to them, finger on the trigger.

"Where are you?" The crossbow guy let out with a southern drawl.

"Never you mind your pretty heads, yes or no?" Katherine questioned, her chain smokers voice sounding a little rusty.

"Yes, Carl is my son," The other shouted back, and Malachy nodded to Katherine, and they both exited the Overlook, getting back on the ground with the weapons close, observing the two men that had come into their territory.

"We told you not to past the purple paint," Malachy told the two men, holding his sniper close to him and Katherine was staring at the two men, analyzing them and the one with the crossbow stared at her back with defining blue eyes.

"We wanted to find you; I wanted to thank you personally for saving my son's life. My name is Rick Grimes, this is Daryl Dixon,"

"Rick Grimes?" Katherine repeated with a raised eyebrow, her eyes tearing away from Daryl's.

"I take it your Sargent and Doctor McKinney?"

"Katherine and Malachy," Malachy told Rick and Daryl, and then looking over to his sister's face, noticing the thoughtful look she had.

"Rick Grimes as in Officer Rick Grimes?" Katherine questioned and Rick nodded slowly, and a grin broke out from her lips. "It's me; we met in Atlanta, barbed wire fence?" She listed and Rick's eyebrows rose in realization. "Kinda' left you with the pizza guy but-"

"Kathy?" He grinned away, bringing her in for a hug.

"How're you doing Atlanta?" She smiled into his blood stained shoulder, cheek brushing against his unkempt facial hair.

"Erm, what?" Malachy double-took them, and then looked at Daryl in confusion. "You know each other? Barbed wire- is that the scar on your arm?" Malachy shouted, and she shushed him, looking around to see if any walkers came by.

"I can't believe it's you, it's been a while. How's your uncle, the others?" Katherine looked down with a sad smile, pushing the glasses up her nose that she had forgotten to take off before they left. "Oh Kath, I'm so sorry,"

"It's alright, thanks to them we have a safe place. We only knew about you being here because we have strong wires set up as a radius,"

"I knew that weren't no branch," Daryl muttered to himself and Katherine smiled.

"If I knew you were with that group we would have helped you, have you found a place?"

"We're still looking," Rick told her with an unsure look, he looked and sounded rougher than before.

"Bring your people back with us; we've got beds, food to last us until next year and hot water," Katherine informed them with an excited undertone, the heels of her boots softly crunching into the leafy ground.

"Really?" Malachy watched as Daryl's crystal blue eyes lit up like a Christmas tree at the words 'hot water'. While Katherine had a quick glance at the redneck, she could see that he was actually rather beautiful in the raggedy jeans and angel winged stitched vest he was wearing.

"Yes! Follow the trial until you find blue paint, the area around the church is safe; it's just the purple zone you need to watch out for. Go to where two trees meet as one, and there will be a small stone cemetery, there is a hatch underneath a stone angel, that will lead you under the church and into our office," Katherine explained, grabbing a piece of paper and pen that was conveniently in her pocket and wrote down the directions. "It's good seeing you again Officer Friendly," She smirked suggestively and he let out an embarrassed smile.

"You too Miss Impala, we'll be back within the hour,"

"If you see walkers on the ground, you're heading in the right direction. Smell keeps our humanity hidden," Malachy told them, putting the safety on his gun before turning around and heading back. Rick gave her a goodbye and he headed back with Daryl, and Katherine followed her sulking brother. "You've just invited another fucking group into the church Kath, what the fuck were you thinking?"

"I know him, he's a good man, and he's found his wife and child. Others that were with them, I recognized two others," Katherine protested his growl, rolling her eyes. "We invited a rogue group into our lives, and things went bad, but I know Rick, he saved my life in Atlanta, looking for you might I add. You owe that man thanks," She pushed a finger to his chest as she stormed in front of him, making him stop as they came to a blue tree.

"He saved your life? He ruined your arm! You can't hold a gun against your shoulder without getting kickback," Malachy slapped her hand away, pointing at her arm, thankfully half covered by the leather jacket she was wearing so he didn't have to see the ugly, raging purplish-red scars that were earned from climbing the fence to help get the truck. "It shakes all the time, I'm surprised you can even work out without pulling a muscle, or you can even stitch straight. I don't care what you say Katherine, but I'm protecting you like always, it's my job, I can't let them hurt you, not again,"

"If protecting me is your job, where the hell were you, for seven months when I really needed you? When I was trying to find you while you thought that killing families was the right thing to do? The group and I almost died in Fort Benning just to find you, it was overrun with walkers, and survivors from the military. So if anyone is protecting someone, it's me protecting you. There ain't no me if there ain't no you,"


	3. Nothing Like Irish Drinking Songs

"_Mush-a ring dum-a do dum-a da, whack for my daddy-o! Whack for my daddy-o! There's whiskey in the jar!_" Clapping and singing were shared between the McKinney siblings, two glasses of scotch were sat on the table in between them. "_I counted out his money and it made a pretty penny, I put it in me pocket and I took it home to Jenny. She sighed and she swore that she never would deceive me, but the devil take the women for they never can be easy!_" They were waiting on Rick's group to join them, and they decided to make a night of it, knowing that not a lot of walkers would pass now that they had chucked the rest of the cow out another mile away from the perimeter.

"Aye, it's been a while since we've had a night like this," Malachy laughed, the two now sporting more casual, pyjama like clothes as they slouched against the couches instead of on them.

"Try four years," Katherine told him, now on her fourth class of scotch and not even getting close to been tipsy, unlike her brother who hadn't had alcohol in quite a few years. "Who knew a priest would keep a case of booze in his cellar?"

"Certainly not me," Malachy stated and they heard a sudden knocking sound, making the forty year old man get up from the floor swiftly, but in the process stumbled and fell into the couch with a thud. Katherine fell into a fit of laughter, knowing it was only the group. She got up from the floor, listening to Malachy mutter away in Irish as she pushed the door open to the office and lifted up the hatch, looking down to see Rick grinning up at her.

"Howdy there Officer, how can I help you?" Katherine put on a faux Southern accent and an innocent look to her doe like eyes. He chuckled away, and she took his hand, helping him up the last step on the hatch, his little boy following behind him, Daryl, presumably his pregnant wife and a few more others.

"We parked the cars near yours if that's alright?"

"Pft, its fine. Go straight through, put your bags up by JC and we can get introduced," Her rosy lips smiled and she gestured to go through the living room, where she could see Malachy pouring more glasses. "Think you've had enough big brother,"

"I ain't lettin' a twenty year old tell me what to do," He pointed at her with a smile and she laughed lightly, joining him and drinking the scotch that was in his glass.

"Twenty year old who is almost thirty," Rick pointed out with a smile from across the room and Katherine poked her tongue out childishly before approaching the group, grinning at Glenn and T-Dog.

"Hello boys,"

"Didn't believe Rick when he said it was you, you're looking good Doc'," T-Dog smiled and her tongue sat between her pearly whites as she also smiled, Malachy clearing his throat. "I mean that in the friendliest way possible,"

"Yeah right," She snorted, giving him a hug and then giving Glenn a hug. "How're you doing short stuff?" Katherine asked the shorter Korean and the girl smirked from his side.

"Doing good thanks Kath," Katherine and Malachy observed the group, seeing that there was a quite a few of them and soon enough they invited them to take a seat on the couches, make themselves at home and have a glass of whiskey if they'd liked. They were all introduced, T-Dog joking with Katherine about the whole Miss Impala nickname and Daryl had actually got into a conversation with her about how beautiful the 67' Chevy was. Katherine noticed a few of the people she met wasn't with them, but she didn't mention it.

They told them about the room situations and the beds while they were given something small to eat, and they were going to talk about giving jobs in the morning, but for now they were just simmering down.

"How long has it been since you began travelling?" Malachy asked, glass sitting in his hand after Hershel, the vet doctor, had told them about them all staying at the farm and the herd that had passed by them. Thankfully nothing like that had happened to the church yet.

"Almost nine months," Carol told him with a warm smile, and the sibling's eyes drifted to Rick's pregnant wife, who wasn't at all sitting next to him. "Thank you so much for taking us in. We heard about you,"

"I thought we were going to keep it a secret!" Katherine whispered to T-Dog and they all laughed lowly. "I needed to get to Fort Benning as soon as possible, I doubt this guy would survive without me," She grinned at her brother, who was looking at her with droopy eyes.

"Fort Benning? How was it over there?" Daryl questioned and Katherine shrugged, leaning back in the couch.

"Nasty, we had a small group, but shit things got bad. It was completely overrun, we barely made it out alive," She told them sadly and Malachy pressed a hand on her shoulder reassuringly. Katherine cleared her throat and forced a smile, looking back at up at them. "It's been a while since we've had some decent people,"

"Same here," Rick agreed, and grabbed his glass of wine scotch and raised it. "So I think we should toast-" The group whined, but then began to genuinely laugh, something none of them had done in a while. "-To Malachy, and Katherine, who saved my life, and I never thought I would see again. Thank you for welcoming us in, and for saving my kid. We owe you,"

"To Malachy and Katherine!" The others joined in and the siblings smiled happily with them, taking a drink.

"Speaking of saving lives," Malachy started. "How did you meet Rick then?" Rick smirked, looking at Katherine with a shrug.

"You want to tell it?" He asked and she chuckled.

"Depends on what version I remember," She replied with a smile, gulping down the scorching liquor and leaned forward dramatically. "It was a hot day in the middle of July, on the road to Atlanta-"

"If you're going to tell it, tell it properly," Rick chuckled, Carl grinning at the two but Lori wore a sour face.

"Alright then Officer, why don't you tell it? Maybe you can add in why you look like a forty year old man after a breakdown?"

"Careful watcha' say missy, he might handcuff ya'," T-Dog joked and Rick rolled his eyes.

"So you gonna' tell it or what?" Daryl asked her, pulling her attention away from T-Dog and back his rough voice.

"Fine, I'll tell it,"

_"If we collect enough supplies in Atlanta, we can get to Fort Benning within one stretch," Dermot's thick accent commented as they sat tight in the sleek, pristine Impala that was surprisingly clean. A great, long time on the road wasn't great, Katherine and her uncle, Dermot lost a few people a couple of weeks back, but they made the choice. "You know if he isn't-"_

"He is," Katherine stated firmly, her eyes on the road as she drove them down the empty road. "Sergeant Malachy McKinney is alive and he's fighting all of these sons of bitches,"

"Language love,"

"I'm just saying," Katherine continued to drive, but began to slow down when she saw a car parked on the edge of the road by a small house, thinking it might have been abandoned but then she saw a thirty year old looking man in a Sheriff's outfit walking around with rope in his hands.

"Well I'll be damned," Dermot muttered, watching the man walk around to a fenced yard that a horse stood in. Katherine pulled over, keeping a hold on the gun in her holster as she got out of the car and carefully approached the house.

"Hey, Officer!" She called over to the man, knowing that there was no walkers in the completely empty road. He snapped around in fright, looking at her with wide eyes and his hand lay on his holster, both Katherine and Dermot drawing their guns. "Hey, no need to pull a hissy fit, but if you're going to then we want the gun,"

"You scared me," He admitted sheepishly, taking his hand away from the holster and they lowered their guns. "Look I don't want any trouble-"

"Hey dude, we don't," Katherine chuckled, approaching him slowly. "We're just looking for gas but the fact you're holding a rope and there's a horse right there, I'm guessing you don't have any either,"

"No, sorry,"

"We need to get to Atlanta, just for supplies. I'm looking for someone,"

"Me too, for Atlanta,"

"Really?" Dermot broke into a smile.

"Look, we need that gas really bad; I need to get to Fort Benning as soon as possible. Please, I'll give you supplies, whatever you need, just let me ride with you," Katherine pleaded the man in the hat, her angelic features softening. "My name is Katherine; this is my uncle Dermot,"

"Rick Grimes," He held out his hands, and Katherine shook it enthusiastically, thankful for the man who is willing to give her a chance. "If you've got an extra set of walkie batteries, I'll take them," She grinned, turning to Dermot who ran to the car, rummaged through a bag and chucked her a packet of batteries, and then gave them to Rick.

"I'll stay here with the Impala, I've got my gun and knife, but be back before sundown, I don't want you running into walkers," Dermot told her, as she embraced him for a tight hug and joined Rick at the fence gate.

"Did you have a group?" Katherine questioned as she slowly clicked her snake like tongue for the horse to come over to her, it was thin and she could see the bones through it's dark brown fur. She pulled up her hair into a tight pony tail as she watched Rick loop the rope around the horse's neck, assuring it quietly.

"No, I er, was in a coma for a few months, woke up in the middle of this chaos," Rick told her, patting the horse and they opened the gate for the horse to walk out slightly. "I'm looking for my wife and son, she took picture albums with her, and I know they're alive,"

"Good attitude. I'm looking for my brother; he's a Sergeant and is currently working on a unit in Fort Benning. It's taken me a long time to get here, I'll be on my way after I get what I need," Katherine stated, grabbing a saddle that sat on the fence and throwing it over the horse, strapping it on. She had a lot of experience with horses back in Ireland. He went to get up, but stumbled a little and she smirked at the freshly shaven man. "Use the saddle to pull yourself up, and give one swing,"

"You do this often?"

"Back in the Old Country," She replied with a smile, once he was up steadily and she also hoisted herself up, wrapping her arms around his waist.

"I haven't done this in a long time,"

"After that we rode into Atlanta, got stuck in the tank and met Glenn, who then took us to the mall building," Katherine finished, Carl, Beth, Maggie, Glenn and Lori now in the next room getting some decent sleep and the remaining others sitting in the living room with the siblings, deeply interested in the story. "But it's late and the rest is longer," Katherine smiled, getting up from the couch and cracking her back. "I'll take watch, just settle yourselves in and take a lay in tomorrow,"

"I'll take watch," Malachy went to stand up, but fell back into the couch aimlessly, making the others laugh quietly.

"Hell no, I'll take watch, get some sleep guys," With that, everybody began to go into the other room, Katherine making her way to the office to change the rotting bandage around her stomach, listening to Malachy mutter to himself as he headed off to bed. For once in a long time, she felt happy and she felt safe, giving hope to people who were having it worse than she was. She could tell Lori was going to be having her baby within a matter of weeks, maybe days and she was detached from Rick, meaning some shit must have really gone down since they last met.

She smiled to herself shyly as she thought about a particular redneck, how they got so deep into conversation about the Impala and the motorbike he was riding around on, and everybody looked at him like he was from another planet. Katherine could tell he had many personality flaws about him, he reminded her of a man she met a few months ago, right hand missing and spoke with a Southern drawl. Of course she met Merle when she was with Rick, but she never thought she'd see him again, especially when he threatened to rape her.

Katherine rummaged through her back of a morphine injection, but she couldn't find one, and internally groaned. The pain was bearable with the stitches in already, but when she had to replace new ones, it hurt like a bitch. She took off her worn belt from around her waist and folded it, placing it in her mouth, teeth clamping down as she grabbed the needle and silk. Katherine grunted painfully when the needle went through the scabbing skin, tears in the back of her eyes.

"Ahem," She jumped when she heard someone roughly clearing their throat behind her, and she calmly looked around to see Daryl standing in the doorway, wearing a ripped sleeve, button up shirt and a bemused smile.

"Would you like something?" Katherine mumbled out through the belt, continuing to sew her abdomen back together casually. Daryl continued to stare at her and she spat the belt out on the table. "Not that I love having a man watch me half dressed," She smirked and Daryl averted his eyes for a second, before looking back at her.

"I'm going to sleep up on the perch, keep watch," He replied, watching as Katherine reached for her cigarettes, placing one in her mouth and then offering Daryl one. He reluctantly took it.

"Go for it," She shrugged, snipping the thread and grabbed her last batch of sterile gaze. "We routine at seven though,"

"Routine?"

"Work out, spar and do a weapon and supply check. Our uncle was a nut, made us check every eight hours," Katherine chuckled to herself, sighing the smoke out her nose. "Join us if ya' like," She watched as the redneck made a noise along the lines of 'Hurm' and left the room, Katherine's gaze burning through his ass.

Yeah, she could get used to some company.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Daryl sat up in the perch, looking out the open circular window with his crossbow in his hands, thinking about the young woman who had taken them in and the fact he saw her stitching herself up. She seemed so open to him, to all of them and she had even _flirted_ with him. Nobody flirted with Daryl Dixon.

It was getting to seven o'clock, and he could hear shuffling of feet below, seeing that Malachy had walked out of the bedroom freshly dressed in his uniform, hair combed back and his sniper in his hand.

"Where's Kathy?" Malachy questioned, not even looking up at Daryl from the ground as he headed over to the kitchen compartment, grabbing a duffle bag that revealed to be full of guns. "Katherine-March get your ass out of bed, don't make me come and get you!" Malachy shouted through the office door when Daryl wasn't quick enough to answer him, he banged on the door, probably waking everyone else up. The door opened to reveal Katherine, wearing the same outfit that she wore yesterday and her hair was up in a tight pony tail, she glared at her brother. "Forgot the damn time?"

"Piss off Mal," She groaned, brushing past him and she began to set up in the kitchen, yawning away.

"I'll go and do a sweep, make sure the wires are stable, you stay here," Malachy told her, and with no questions, he was gone out of the front doors of the church and Katherine rolled her eyes dully.

"Don't suppose you hunt?" She questioned Daryl, looking up at him from the ground with a sheepish smile. "A lot of deer pass through the forest a mile up the road, Mal makes too much noise and I can't use my bow and arrow steadily without getting the shakes," Katherine informed him, Daryl noticing her scarred arm was twitching lightly.

"Have you ever used a crossbow?" Daryl questioned her, making his way down the catwalk stair case and joined her by the cooker. They could hear more movement in the bedroom and bathroom.

"No, I thought the kickback was worse," Katherine stated.

"Nah, not if you do it right," He passed it to her, showing her exactly how to hold it and he wasn't surprised that she caught on quite fast. Rick told them that both siblings were in the army for the majority of their lives. "Heavier than a gun, but it's useful, quiet,"

"Could you show me?" Katherine questioned aimlessly, looking into the scope and Daryl softly took the weapon from her. "I mean if you don't want to then that's fine, I'm hardly useful with runs if I have a gaping hole in my gut,"

"How did you do it?" Daryl mumbled, going over a grabbing his leather vest from the JC statue and slipped it on.

Katherine smirked.

"If you teach me how to use that thing, I'll tell you,"

"I don't think so princess," Daryl chuckled and she rolled her eyes.

"If we're going for nicknames, you could have picked a better one than princess, redneck," They were staring at each other for the moment, and Daryl gave a small throaty chuckle.

"How'd you like cocky Irish bitch?"

"Makes my nethers quiver," Katherine flashed her perfectly straight teeth to the older man standing in front of her, and Daryl couldn't help but smile as well. She wasn't some lousy, girly woman suffering through an apocalypse, Katherine was a woman who knew what she wanted and bring out the fists and guns to get it. Is that why he felt so relaxed with her? Maybe. Since they left the farm, Daryl had been more laid back, he was Rick's right hand man and he had a pleasant and relaxed friendship with Carol. He wasn't full of anger anymore, he was just tired of losing people, and wanted to protect them. "Do we have a deal then?"


End file.
